Three women vying for ownership of $1 million lottery ticketPrevious TopicNext Topic

I agree, I have never seen a sign in any store that says stay out of our garbage.

LOL!

I tend to agree with ridge,but the law works in mysterious ways.What would seem logical isn't always legal,and what is legal isn't always logical.

"The one who bought it threw it away - Dismissed."

The Supreme Court made a ruling on abandoned property in a case involving search and seizure. Because the property was abandoned the police could use any evidence found against the defendant without a search warrant.

"However, once you dump the contents of the larger trash bin into the dumpster in your alley or you place the trash bin where the trash collectors usually come to pick it up, you have taken an affirmative step to abandon the property."

"The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that cops can search and seize abandoned property. In essence, once papers or contraband have been thrown into a trash receptacle, it is considered "abandoned" and anyone, including the police, can look through it and claim ownership."

http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminal-law/arrests_and_searches/cops_search_garbage.htm

You're absolutely right on this one. Lawyers have got to be the lowest of creatures and perhaps thay why people hate them so much. If Sharon Jones has to hire a lawyer to defend what is so clearly her rightful possession then the clerk and the alleged ticket buyer should compensate her the attorney fees.

I cant even believe that the lottery commission is entertaining this nonsense.

Once you dump something in the trash, it's up for grabs.  This is the same thing that police & FBI count on when they go through trash to obtain information on an individual, or use disgarded cigarettes and soda cans to obtain DNA samples.  Whoever picked it out of the trash, signed it & turned it in should get the money; the store manager's "agreement" means absolutely nothing, and the supposed original buyer threw it away.  So sorry, but you're SOL...

If I read the story right, I don't think the Lottery Commission is doing anything.  It sounds like the store clerk filed a lawsuit and the court froze the funds.  And now the court will utimately have to decide who will get it.  The Lottery Commission paid Sharon Jones and considers her the rightful owner.

This similar but different from the case of Willis Willis in Texas.  There, the Lottery paid the thief and left it to the courts to decide.  Generally, under the law, a thief has zero claim but a finder may have a valid claim, but not always.  You hear stories of the Brinks truck door left open and money bags fall out.  The finder doesn't get to keep the money. 

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  I hope Sharon prevails.  She is honest that she found the ticket in a batch of discarded tickets.

I hope Sharon wins without losing too much money. She deserves it!

Not so sure about that, Seattlejohn...... there was a news story a few days ago about someone getting arrested for taking coupons out of a trash can.

The trash bin was marked with a "Do Not Take" notice taped to it (as shown on news video).

From all intents and purposes, it's asking not to move the recepticle.

I'm perplexed on the first paragraph. The way I read it, it's saying Lisa the store manager got together with herself to agree to make a deal that they belonged to her?

Wha?

I think I know what it means, it's just worded funny.
And I agree, Sharon should get the money. The ticket is a bearer instrument!

Jones needs to sue them both for all of her legal fees,  when all of this is over with.

Why should they need a sign? If it's not your property you have no right to take it without permission. Stack's post about the law regarding search and seizure tpuches on that. Here's part of what he didn't quote: "If the police come knocking on your door without a warrant, they can’t use the “abandoned" property or garbage exception to search the trash bins in your house." The store may not care and they may not stop you if you don't ask, but the trash belongs to the store and is entitled to the same legal protections as their other property until they abandon it by putting it out for collection.

Duncan, the woman claiming she bought the ticket may have the best claim to ownership. It was apparently Petriches' attorneys who identified her as the original purchaser, and one of the other clerks has testified that it was bought by Duncan. She says a scanner didn't identify it as a winner, and that she then put it in the trash for Petriches. That may mean that she didn't really abandon it, since she obviously wouldn't abandon a winning ticket.

Since Jones had no automatic right to take trash from the store's trash can she needs to prove that she had permission to take it. Without convincing evidence that she had explicit permission she may be able to prove that she was entitled because it was a common occurrence and the store never made an effort to stop people from doing it. She probably also has to prove that Duncan did abandon it, but not so that Petriches could recover it later.

The store manager may have some problems too, because the trash belongs to the store owner, not the manager. Would anyone be surprised if the owner came along and made it a 4 person dispute?

ive seen people tear up tickets before disposing of them, noew i know why, they where saving everyone the drama of drawn out legal battles.